Pickup trucks are widely used in both urban and rural areas with increasing popularity. A pickup truck is characterized by a cargo bed accessible via a tailgate. In particular, the tailgate is pivotally mounted at the rear of the cargo bed. When the tailgate is in the up position, it serves as a rear wall for the cargo bed. When in the down position, the tailgate lies flat to enable loading and unloading of the cargo bed.
Many vehicles, including pickup trucks, are now outfitted with rear vision or other electronic systems. In a pickup truck application, the typical rear vision system may include a dashboard or console mounted video display, which displays a video image feed taken from a camera located in the tailgate of the truck. The video image provides a rearward field of view to the driver that may be used while backing up. Another type of electronic system is a rear parking assist system, which typically utilizes one or more obstacle-detecting sensors mounted in the tailgate of the pickup truck. When the pickup truck is in reverse gear, the rear parking assist system will generate alerts (e.g., beeping noises and/or lights) when the sensors detect an obstacle in the rearward path of the pickup truck.
To improve fuel economy, an owner may choose to remove the tailgate of the pickup truck to reduce wind drag. However, any components of an electrical system located in the tailgate must be disconnected from the associated components in the main body of the truck. This is typically accomplished by de-coupling harness connectors when removing the tailgate. After the tailgate is removed, the harness connector still attached to the main body may be left exposed. In this condition, harness terminals are susceptible to contamination, corrosion, or damage. In conventional systems, separate harness connector caps are provided to the owner, which, when installed, protect the terminals to ensure continued operability of the system when the tailgate is reattached. These connector caps are typically stored in the glove-box of the pickup truck until initial use and then must be stored again when the tailgate is replaced. The connector caps are easily misplaced by the owner, constitute an additional cost for the manufacturer, and may cause contamination to the terminals.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved harness assemblies for electrical components disposed in the tailgate of pickup trucks. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.